What distinguishes a Christian university from others? Every university has an essence in pursuit of desired ends (achievements, impact). I believe it is not only the ideal of a Christian university's essence (the presence of the Trinity: God in Christ by the Holy Spirit lived out by the university community), but its passion for achieving its special ends (in TWU's case: Truth, Compassion, Reconciliation and Hope) that is the difference. To quote page 19 in my recent book, Called to a Higher Purpose -
"Without a doubt, universities are places of discovery, learning, and engagement, but not necessarily exceptionally so. They pursue truth without acknowledging it as such, without acknowledging that all truth is Christ's truth. They may offer examples of compassion, but not compassion compelled purposefully as the love of Christ. They may seek reconciliation, but without the power of Christ to make it a lasting reality. They may be hopeful, but not occasion hope beyond the hope of career advancement and personal success. And all these things - truth, compassion, reconciliation, and hope - are not part of a typical university's mission, intentional design, and desire for the world. For the Christian university, they are the raison d"etre, the driving motivation and reason for existence."
In the next few blogs, I intend to share my thinking about each of these four "ends" which now comprise the TWU Board of Governors ENDS policy. A Christian university is a social/intellectual/spiritual ecology of grace and truth whose core nature is the very essence of Christ incarnated in the daily life of the university community. And it is in the pursuit of the ENDS, to which the university is passionately committed, that all who come into its sphere of participation and influence find meaning and purpose in an enterprise of higher, Higher Education.
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